genma803

18 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

Lyft price was $55 but no one seemed to have luck getting a Lyft to show up. It kept getting canceled. 
 

Uber was $88 but again there were so many people waiting and few rides arriving. 

 

The taxi cost $76 before tip. The driver was a safe driver and was really polite. We appreciated that he had the air conditioning on high and the radio was on low and he helped put bags in and out of the trunk. Next time we will go directly to the taxi. 

Lived in the Ft Lauderdale area for years... Lyft and Uber have a contentious relationship with the airport. You're correct that pick up there can be a chore and sometimes you are better off going with an official taxi (the ride share drivers are notorious for soliciting off the books jobs and dropping their original pick up). But in terms of getting TO the airport, ride share is usually the most cost effective option.

Nothing is truly "free," even Free At Sea. We're paying a higher cruise fare than we would have if the sailing didn't offer FAS, even if we book just the room. Changes made after you book a cruise are understandably frustrating.

From our perspective, FAS made sense for my partner who can imbibe 6+ alcoholic drinks without an issue, the two specialty dining meals makes me happy (he couldn't care less), the photo package could be fun but we never buy photos normally and we won't use the excursion credit, PLUS I hear the wifi isn't worth it. It was basically a break even proposition for us to pay the service charges on the included drink package and dining package.

I wish the drink package included Starbucks and water, sigh. That would easily be worth $200+ to me on a week long cruise. As it stands, I will probably just buy water for the room and get 1-2 fancy coffees a day ala carte and not sweat it. 

On 4/24/2023 at 11:48 PM, graphicguy said:

WOW looks amazing! Do you know if you can go to Q if one person in your party doesn't want to order food but just have a beer? My cabin mate is not a huge meat eater and tends to eat later but would like to sit with others during dinner. Can we use one dining credit for one person and the other person choose not to eat?

16 hours ago, mking8288 said:

Cloudy afternoon, on the windy side out in this angled secret large balcony.  There's room out there for at least 2 loungers, or a table plus an extra chair for breakfast 😁😁😁   We can get really creative next ... 

 

Mini refrigerator emptied out so we can store our own stuffs, including ice in the bucket, and coffee/hot water maker with the set-up, and 3 cups. 🫢

 

Key numbers - speed at 19.2 knots, 328 nm to Heritage Wharf at Dockyard at 4:45 pm ship/Bermuda time.

 

 

 

 

New brand of coffee pods in stock now. 

Thank you for the live stream. Great to read! Quick question- did you bring that one cup coffee maker on board or did your room steward provide it for you? What kind of pods does it use?

Wow great posts about your trip so far! Can't wait to read about Day 2 on the Joy. We will be sailing on her for the first time in 3 weeks, also in an inside cabin. 

I also checked out your posts about your poor foot! Oh my gosh. I'm in medicine and I got queasy seeing it. You poor thing! It is so nice to know you are feeling better after that long road to recovery.

Hello, we booked our cruise to Bermuda on Joy only about 5 weeks before sailing. 🥴

As a result there were very specialty dining restaurant reservations available when we booked.

We were able to get one late night dining time at Le Bistro to use our included meal with The Free at Sea promotion but there were no reservations available for Cagney's or Ocean Blue, the two other places we are interested in trying, so we decided against buying an additional two specialty dinners per person in advance. We just didn't know if we'd be able to get once we want once on board.

Does anyone have experience with booking the specialty dining package on board and know if ends up being the same cost as prebooking ($69pp plus gratuity per person for two meals)? If so we will likely wait to see what reservations are available once we board.

TIA

11 minutes ago, hallux said:

You're not picking a boarding time, you're picking a check-in time.  At least at other ports NCL isn't really paying attention to those times, BUT the terminal at least needs to be open for passengers boarding to come in.

Yes, I realize. Early morning response hadn't had my coffee yet.

1 hour ago, johnrich said:

Our cruise doesn’t depart NYC until 11:00 PM. The earliest check-in time we could choose was 4:00. We have both flights and transfers through NCL. Our flight arrives at 8:45 AM. Will we have to sit around the airport all day for the shuttle buses or how does that work?  NCL customer service has been telling people that checkin will still be at normal times even though it’s a late departure. Well, I just checked in for the cruise and the first pier checkin time is 4:00 so Cust service is wrong (imagine that, lol). We are flying into EWR if that makes a difference. 

We had the same experience when we checked in during the wee hours of the morning lol. The earliest check in we could get was 4 pm. It feels like we are missing half a day of the cruise. When we called customer service they said they didn't have information about earlier boarding times but typically even with that late of a sailing time, 1 pm would be the latest they would start allowing passengers to board.

I wonder if people who check in later will get earlier boarding times once those are updated closer to departure? 

Can NCL tell you what time the shuttle will come for you? I can't imagine they would leave you at the airport all day!